Hopurangi -Songcatcher Poems from the Maramataka,
Robert Sullivan, Auckland University Press, 2024

Ōrongonui 1: ‘Breezy vibes’ (((((((((((((((High Energy)))))))))))))))

Breezy vibes, says the podcast Taringa. I’m one of ‘those
people’ who says ‘hauhū’ instead of ‘hauhunga’
in the karakia ‘Whakataka te hau’ ’cause
I didn’t know better. Every version I found
says that, then I learn from Taringa it isn’t a word at all.
Auē taukuri ē! And then I learn that ‘aroha mai’
generally doesn’t mean ‘sorry’, that it’s clearer
to say ‘nōku te hē’. Then the panel on Taringa
talked about intensifiers like ‘rirerire’,
‘pohapoha’ and ‘mārika’. If you say
someone is ‘ātaahua rirerire’ it means
they are exceptionally beautiful. ‘Mārika’
also has that effect to mean ‘absolutely’.
‘Pohapoha’ does too, and also ‘crammed’
like in the phrase ‘ka kī pohapoha taku kete’
which means ‘my basket is full to the brim.’
Tērā pea, ōrite ki te manawanui nē?
I hope I’m keeping my vibes breezy here.
I listened driving into Puketeraki.
It was afterwards driving home that I found out about ‘hauhū’.
Yesterday was an exceptionally beautiful day.
Inanahi, he rā ātaahua rirerire.

Robert Sullivan

I often use the word ‘breathtaking’ when I am tagging a poetry collection I love, and yes, poetry can take your breath away but, after reading Robert Sullivan’s sublime new collection, Hopurangi -Songcatcher Poems from the Maramataka, I am musing on the idea, ‘breath-enhancing’. I am in the luxurious position of being able to slow read, to wind the reading pace down to country road rambles, so I may savour and absorb and delight. I do want to add that I am huge fan of beach running, of getting into a sweet rhythm that gets mantras flowing, and I relish the jumpstart of crime fiction and exhilarating breakneck poetry.

Robert’s new collection is inspired by Maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar. After a long absence from Facebook, over a three-month period, he posted a poem a day, attuned to the lunar cycle energies, drawing upon what he was learning about Maramataka. Each poem is tagged with an energy meter – low, medium, or high. The resulting poetry is a testimony of whanau, language, the natural world and aroha.

How Robert’s poetry resonates alongside the current political edicts, prescriptions and alarming descriptions of what the Coalition Government pledges for the child, the adult and our planet. In Robert’s sublime and breath-enhancing collection, I am finding seeds of hope. Of te reo Māori growing alongside English, both languages vital on our tongues, of tending our relationships, whether human or planetary, with care as opposed to greed, of acknowledging our spikes and our difficulties, of never ceasing to learn new things. I hold this collection out to you as a book of freshness, of reassessing and finding one’s place, a book of experience, wisdom, friendship, hope. And above all, a book of aroha.

The readings

‘Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Machine’

‘Pupurangi Shelley’

‘The Paper Chase’

Robert Sullivan (of Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu, and Irish descent) is the author and editor of fifteen books. He co-edits The Journal of New Zealand Literature with Dr Erin Mercer, and is President of the NZ Poetry Society. Among his awards is the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry. Hopurangi | Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka is his ninth collection of poetry and is published this month by Auckland University Press. The three recorded poems are “Pupurangi Shelley,” “The Paper Chase” and “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Machine” from his new collection.

Auckland University Press page